International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

Muhammad‘Ali Pasha (Mehmet Ali) was born in Kavala, a fishing village on the Macedonia coast. Probably of Albanian ethnic origin, he was reared by the governor of Kavala after his father Ibrahim Agha died. He entered the Greek tobacco trade, which taught him the importance of commerce for financing the development of an army and a political system. His growing success opened the way for him to marry one of the daughters of the governor. She eventually because the mother of five of his 95 children. In 1798 Muhammad‘Ali joined an Ottoman expeditionary force that sailed to Egypt. Its mission was to drive the French out of Egypt and return control to the Ottoman Sultan. As a young officer he fought against the French and British. The French withdrew from Egypt in 1801, creating a power vacuum. Muhammad‘Ali exploited the situation as an opportunity to gain control of Egypt. In the chaos he used the Albanian forces under his command to take control. His success was rewarded in 1805 by the Ottoman Sultan with the titles of wali (viceroy) in Egypt, with the rank of Pasha (ruler). During the eighteenth century Egypt had become a poor and neglected province of the Ottoman Empire. Muhammad ‘Ali's mission was to turn it into the most powerful province in the Ottoman Empire with a strength that would allow it to be independent in all but name. To accomplish his goal he developed the Egyptian ... log in or subscribe to read full text